This invention relates to improvements in an electromagnetic contactor.
A conventional electromagnetic contactor has an electrically insulating base fixed to a box-shaped mounting plate by a plurality of fastening screws, a stationary iron core disposed on the mounting plate, an operating coil disposed around the stationary iron core and connected via a lead to a coil terminal disposed on the base, a movable iron core disposed on a movable cross bar opposed to the stationary iron core with a predetermined gap therebetween, a spring loaded movable contact arm and bearing a movable contact, and a stationary contact arm disposed on the base and connected to a circuit terminal disposed on the base adjacent thereto, and the stationary contact arm bearing a stationary contact opposed to the movable contact with a predetermined gap therebetween which is smaller than the gap between the stationary and movable iron cores.
In conventional electromagnetic contactors such as described above, it is required to remove the operating coil held by the coil holder from the particular electromagnetic contactor to inspect the coil for purposes of maintenance or to exchange the coil for a new one. To this end, the fastening screws must be unscrewed to separate the base from the mounting plate followed by the disengagement of the coil terminal from the lead to the operating coil. This has resulted in a complicated removing operation. With the circuit terminal connected to a lead to an associated circuit, it is required to remove that lead from the circuit terminal resulting in a more complicated removing operation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electromagnetic contactor including means for easily removing a coil holder with an operating coil held thereby from the electromagnetic contactor.